Plastic bag makers prepared to back smuggling claims
Manufacturers have enough proof to back their claims that tax is being evaded on plastic carrier bags and that a significant quantity is smuggled into Malta, Robert Abela, a director of plastic bag manufacturer Traplas has told The Times Business. In...
Manufacturers have enough proof to back their claims that tax is being evaded on plastic carrier bags and that a significant quantity is smuggled into Malta, Robert Abela, a director of plastic bag manufacturer Traplas has told The Times Business.
In its Newstring newsletter this week, the GRTU, the Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises, says it has "written to the Commissioner of Police requesting him to ask Mr Abela to submit, as is his duty, any information he has of tax evasion and contraband importation of plastic bags."
"We do not have a problem with that," Mr Abela said, when asked for his reaction. "The authorities know what is going on. I must point out that the retailers are not involved in this particular issue - when I made those claims I was referring to people coming from overseas, from Italy or Tunisia. When they come over by catamaran, they load up their vehicle's luggage boot with boxes of carrier bags and then proceed to sell them to retailers, like butchers, fishmongers, or grocers. The bags are not going through the right channels, so obviously no contribution is paid on them."
The government has announced that the Legal Notice on the €0.15 eco contribution on plastic carrier bags will be published in February. Retailers and importers will have the opportunity to air their views beforehand. Mr Abela says a meeting with the government and the GRTU, of which his company is a member, should be held soon.
The GRTU has proposed that retailers should treat plastic bags as normal stock items. But Traplas and another manufacturer, Inserv Ltd, complained that under the proposal, manufacturers and importers would have to include the eco-contribution in their invoice to retailers, before the end customers bought the bags. This would place the manufacturers at a disadvantage.
"As manufacturers, we are asking for a level playing field," Mr Abela insists.
Mr Abela believes the eco-contribution structure should be based on Ireland's model. In the Republic, customers are asked at the cash point if they would like a bag for their purchases and then charged for it.
"We do not have an issue with the government tax," Mr Abela explained. "In Ireland, the final user pays the tax. Under the system as proposed by the government here, there is a risk that abuse will increase. If customers are charged for a bag at the till, then the eco-contribution on it is paid, no matter where it came from."
Mr Abela says that bio-degradable bags being subject to the eco-contribution made little sense, because the material was more environmentally-friendly than paper.
"Companies like Traplas which manufacture bio-degradable bags register with an organisation in Berlin to obtain a licence, after which they are obliged to carry a special logo and identification number on each bag. They are very easy to identify."
Meanwhile, GRTU director general Vince Farrugia says plastic carrier bags are dying out and it was time to accept that the nature of the market was changing.
"The age of the free dispensing of carrier bags is gone," he says. "We cannot continue to operate with what is harmful to the environment. Retailers, manufacturers and consumers have to grow up and move with the times."
In its newsletter the GRTU supports the government's initiative: "Retailers recognise that their dispensing of plastic bags at no charge was creating unnecessary damage to the environment and at a cost which retailers can no longer sustain."
When a €0.02 eco-contribution on plastic carrier bags was introduced in 2005, it was almost insignificant and consumers did not seem to mind paying it. Mr Farrugia says that is set to change and points out that the new regulations will go some way to encouraging more people to separate their waste and help reach the national environmental objectives. Asked whether it made sense for the eco-contribution to be charged on all carrier bags, be they non-degradable, bio-degradable or degradable, Mr Farrugia said it was technically very difficult to administer the materials used, and it was unfair to ask the retailers to referee the system.
The Maltese use 40 million plastic carrier bags a year.
A good percentage are re-used at least once - mostly for garbage as evidenced by the numerous knotted bags put out to be collected by truck operators across the country. Much of the rest seems to end up littering the streets and the countryside. Even the prime minister has said he is tired of seeing plastic bags strewn all over the place.
In its Newstring newsletter this week, the GRTU, the Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises, says it has "written to the Commissioner of Police requesting him to ask Mr Abela to submit, as is his duty, any information he has of tax evasion and contraband importation of plastic bags."
"We do not have a problem with that," Mr Abela said, when asked for his reaction. "The authorities know what is going on. I must point out that the retailers are not involved in this particular issue - when I made those claims I was referring to people coming from overseas, from Italy or Tunisia. When they come over by catamaran, they load up their vehicle's luggage boot with boxes of carrier bags and then proceed to sell them to retailers, like butchers, fishmongers, or grocers. The bags are not going through the right channels, so obviously no contribution is paid on them."
The government has announced that the Legal Notice on the €0.15 eco contribution on plastic carrier bags will be published in February. Retailers and importers will have the opportunity to air their views beforehand. Mr Abela says a meeting with the government and the GRTU, of which his company is a member, should be held soon.
The GRTU has proposed that retailers should treat plastic bags as normal stock items. But Traplas and another manufacturer, Inserv Ltd, complained that under the proposal, manufacturers and importers would have to include the eco-contribution in their invoice to retailers, before the end customers bought the bags. This would place the manufacturers at a disadvantage.
"As manufacturers, we are asking for a level playing field," Mr Abela insists.
Mr Abela believes the eco-contribution structure should be based on Ireland's model. In the Republic, customers are asked at the cash point if they would like a bag for their purchases and then charged for it.
"We do not have an issue with the government tax," Mr Abela explained. "In Ireland, the final user pays the tax. Under the system as proposed by the government here, there is a risk that abuse will increase. If customers are charged for a bag at the till, then the eco-contribution on it is paid, no matter where it came from."
Mr Abela says that bio-degradable bags being subject to the eco-contribution made little sense, because the material was more environmentally-friendly than paper.
"Companies like Traplas which manufacture bio-degradable bags register with an organisation in Berlin to obtain a licence, after which they are obliged to carry a special logo and identification number on each bag. They are very easy to identify."
Meanwhile, GRTU director general Vince Farrugia says plastic carrier bags are dying out and it was time to accept that the nature of the market was changing.
"The age of the free dispensing of carrier bags is gone," he says. "We cannot continue to operate with what is harmful to the environment. Retailers, manufacturers and consumers have to grow up and move with the times."
In its newsletter the GRTU supports the government's initiative: "Retailers recognise that their dispensing of plastic bags at no charge was creating unnecessary damage to the environment and at a cost which retailers can no longer sustain."
When a €0.02 eco-contribution on plastic carrier bags was introduced in 2005, it was almost insignificant and consumers did not seem to mind paying it. Mr Farrugia says that is set to change and points out that the new regulations will go some way to encouraging more people to separate their waste and help reach the national environmental objectives. Asked whether it made sense for the eco-contribution to be charged on all carrier bags, be they non-degradable, bio-degradable or degradable, Mr Farrugia said it was technically very difficult to administer the materials used, and it was unfair to ask the retailers to referee the system.
The Maltese use 40 million plastic carrier bags a year.
A good percentage are re-used at least once - mostly for garbage as evidenced by the numerous knotted bags put out to be collected by truck operators across the country. Much of the rest seems to end up littering the streets and the countryside. Even the prime minister has said he is tired of seeing plastic bags strewn all over the place.